In March 2025, Anne and I drove ten hours north of Perth, Western Australia to visit the famed Monkey Mia dolphins in the remote Shark Bay Marine Park, a World Heritage area. Why do they come so close to shore to interact with humans there?
It turns out that returning fisherman in the 1960s shared their catch with the dolphins at this beach. Up until 1984, people interacted with them casually, and then the government took over with regulations to insure the dolphins remained wild.
We arrived at the beach for our early morning dolphin encounter and were instructed to sit on the benches, listen to the lecture and wait. When a few dolphins appeared, we were led down to the shore and lined up at the water’s edge. We were told we were lucky they showed up because they were showing up less.
As we stood there, several dolphins swam by. They were waiting to be fed. Anne intuitively heard them say, “Feed me. Why are you waiting? It’s taking so long.” They were obviously intelligent and becoming bored.
Then three seasoned volunteers with buckets of fish came out and stood knee deep in the water. We were told that only four designated dolphins from specific families were allowed to be fed minimal amounts of fish. I wondered why those four would show up for so little food that took so long to be served.
Why would more than those four ever show up? A dolphin answered saying, “They are here for comradery, and some are family.”
We were also confused by the volunteers wearing face masks and rubber gloves. They announced they had read a scientific paper that proposed humans could breathe covid on dolphins.
Anne intuitively asked the dolphins what they thought of the masks. One replied, “It is not necessary. They are restricting their energy flow by fearing they could harm us. We are fine. Their fear limits their creativity and makes our interactions less fun.”
“Why are you still showing up here if the humans are less fun?” Anne asked. “We have an obligation and a history,” one answered.
Upon noticing how fear and control had restricted the energy of the interaction, Anne became upset. Dolphins are naturally spontaneous, fun and curious to see the same in humans. I know this because I used to lead wild dolphin adventures off boats near the Bahamas. The people who received the most interactions with dolphins were the ones who were happy and creative in their swimming.
As we stood on the shore, one dolphin noticed Anne was upset and swam by telepathically communicating some advice to her. “Be here now – it’s OK – you can have fun.”
“How can I have fun?” Anne asked. She heard, “Have more energy flow through you.” They then flashed her an image of effervescent bubbles floating inside her body and around her. They shared, “Bubbles of joy show you are in flow and these are interesting to us. Focus on joy.”
The rest of the day and throughout the night, Anne took responsibility for creating her own bouncing bubbles. She was intensely focused. She meditated and monitored her thoughts. She had us visualize this effervescence in our bodies and around us to match what the dolphins said. She prepared us to be happy people for our second encounter.
The next morning, the encounter began the same as the day before, but then something magical happened. More dolphins started to appear. The day before there were 7 and now there were 12.
The dolphins looked livelier and spent a lot of time looking in all of our eyes. They told Anne, “We appreciate your happy bubbly energy. We showed up to enjoy your company.”
According to these wise dolphins, free flowing joy is our natural healthy state. We saw how holding that joy in our hearts brings about positive results in our world.
The ranger standing in the water announced he had not seen that many dolphins at shore in quite a while. We walked over to the whiteboard that logged the daily numbers, and it proved he was right.
By changing our attitudes and getting our energy flowing, we went from feeling victimized, controlled and sad to creating what we wanted to experience. We became centered and moved our focus from the supervisors to the dolphins. More dolphins showed up and they were happier and more interactive.
After doing our personal work to make a shift, the dolphins noticed a change in our energy. Because of our shift, we were able to connect more deeply with these inherently joy-filled dolphins!
Think of a particular situation that is challenging for you. How can you shift your energy to make it more enjoyable?
For more information on Monkey Mia visit Shark Bay World Heritage Area: https://www.sharkbay.org/place/monkey-mia/